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@kiara-lyons
♥ 232 likes
princessxkiara: HAPPY BIRTHDAY YA FREAK :DD Miss impromptu trips to the Moon Market for more ice cream than we could eat during all those rom com marathons. 😘 You’re seriously the best brother/cousin/surrogate-dad figure that anyone could ever have and I don’t say enough how you changed my life. Thanks for believing in me! It’s because of you I’m thriving today. Hey, also, gonna facetime you later so don’t drop your phone in the toilet!!! ❤️💛💚💙💜
@simba-bonfamille-lyons
The 411 on 24601 || KiMo
littlemiss-mochachino:
Nice play, Kiara. She was obviously letting Mocha lead with this but wasn’t exactly playing a limp, wet, napkin either. (Nothing was more infuriating than hearing someone say ‘I dunno, what do you want to do?’ And expose the truly vapid nature of their entire counter to the harsh light of Mocha’s lust clouded brain cells.). No, there was a challenge to see what Mocha would bring next.
She slipped the had that moved up along the arm down across the crook of her elbow to the younger woman’s waist. Was Kiara young? Yes. But there wasn’t anything unethical really about two of age, consenting women enjoying each other’s company in a cleared out auditorium. And wasn’t it her job to direct people about the stage? To make sure all the moving pieces were in their best state? She was just making sure a star was getting some optimal star quality attention, assuaging all nerves and performance fears she may have by well… conducting a little practice of her own.
She grasped the hip in her hand as the other dropped the hand it was toying with and moved to the other, fingertips ghosting up along previously ignored palms, wrists, forearms as she calmly replied, “Well, what every girl aims to have a hero or bad girl or any archetype get to in their story when they first meet them in the exposition.” She smirked, leaning in until they were just a hair away from each other. Her hand ghosting up the arm to her shoulder, “Have a rising action, climbing as high as they can in their movements and decisions until eventually…” The dark haired girl brushed her fingertips along lithe shoulders before her hand brushed up against her neck and collarbone. “They reach a climax.” Her eyes twinkled ever so mischievously before she dug her teeth into her own bottom lip just a bit, drawing out this flirtation just a few more moments longer.
The stage had emptied out a long time ago.
This had been true for the past few minutes, but Kiara felt it now. She felt the emptiness of the theatre, how much of it there was-- an aching, soaring, dramatic emptiness that went as high as the rafters and as deep as the rows and rows of theatre-style seating. The lights had turned off for the most part too, sides a couple of ones, so it was dim and dramatic: shadowy walls, the front of the stage lit, the back of the theatre dark...
Mood lighting.
And waiting in the wings were the two of them, all alone.
As Mocha’s fingers crawled up Kiara’s arms, she thought to herself: I’m totally gonna shag in the Swynlake theatre.
As Mocha leaned close, her breath tasting still like coffee-- bitter and yet sweet, rich and delicious-- she thought to herself: I’m totally gonna shag Mocha Chino in the Swynlake theatre.
And then:
“Well,” breathed out Kiara, already warm in all the right places. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s a climax.”
And then, smirking, she closed the distance and crushed their lips together.
Make the Yuletide Gay || Calliara
calliope-hesiod:
She read the letter and she read the same line over and over. It felt like a moment in a dream, when you blinked and blinked and tried to focus your vision. Except the lines were real. All the words were real. This wasn’t a dream – even though this was something Callie had played out in her head while daydreaming many times, even though this was something that she had resigned herself wouldn’t happen.
Before Callie even really knew what she was reading, she felt tears on her cheeks. She blinked, surprised, then quickly brushed away her tears.
“Kiara,” said Callie, her voice a little shaky. She looked at Kiara now, trying to wrangle all the thoughts and feelings pouring through her. Kiara looked nervous, just as nervous as Callie felt, but she also looked like – she looked like Callie’s best friend.
“I love you,” Callie blurted out. “I actually didn’t mean to say that, I mean, I did, but I wanted to lead into it with something else, but I dunno maybe that was dumb too, but I just – “
She took a shaky breath.
“I’m ready, Kiara. I think I have been for a while, but I was scared that you weren’t.”
She was going to say no.
Yes, of course she’d say no. Despite all of the hours of therapy and Kiara working on herself, her default was to expect rejection-- to hear it coming like heavy, thudding footsteps up the stairs. She braced herself and she told herself it was going to be okay. Like always, she would be strong. What was another crack, another bruise, another scar? She was determined to bear the whole brunt in order to protect the friendship she’d worked so hard to build here. She’d laugh, Kiara decided. When Callie rejected her, she’d smile and laugh and tell Callie--she’d tell her-- she’d say--
Kiara didn’t know what she’d say. She might be too winded, after the smiling, the laughing, from the punch in the stomach that was coming.
She licked her own lips.
Then Callie said she loved her.
At this point, Kiara’s brain filled with bees. Her eyes widened and it was as though the couch had dropped from underneath her. She was floating up when she thought she was going to fall. There was no punch or punchline.
There was just Callie, close to tears, who still loved her despite everything.
Kiara started to laugh anyway-- laugh and cry.
“I am! I really am. Callie, I’m so so sorry for making you wait.” She scooched closer to her friend and then took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. She grinned so wide she thought she’d split her face in half. “But I’m so ready. Being your girlfriend was the best thing I ever did. And it’s going to be the best thing I ever do now.” Kiara took another breath. “Can I kiss you?”
Who I am, what I'm on Who I've hurt and where they've gone I know that I've done some wrong But I'm tryna make it right The same mistakes on and on To all my friends, I'm sorry for You know that I love you
But I'm still learning (I'm still learning) to love myself (To love my–, to love my–, to love my–) Yeah, yeah But I'm still learning (I'm still learning) to love myself (To love myself) (To love my–, to love my–, to love my–) Yeah, yeah (Oh, oh)
And my girl, she always wore a skirt in the classroom Eatin' my dessert in the bathroom Can't get caught, so we stiller than a statue Bad news, think I'll probably die before I have you Soft skin, soft eyes All these beautiful laughs and beautiful thighs They always kept me up at night But l live for lovin' impolite 'Cause your pussy is a wonderland And I could be a better man It doesn't matter to me Yeah, your pussy is a wonderland And I could be a better man It doesn't matter to me (Hey, yeah)
Halsey - Road To Manic (Episode 8)
“Yeah i mean i have no idea what‘s gonna happen. This album is really important for me, it has been figuring out what it means for me to be me, what makes me happy and what makes me feel like me and what makes me get on stage and be able to be the best performer i can. It has been making really difficult decisions and doing all of it for my fans.”
Make the Yuletide Gay || Calliara
calliope-hesiod:
Callie immediately was scared that Kiara didn’t like her gift – maybe she should bought Kiara something instead? Maybe the picture was too much? But then she saw a smile on Kiara’s face, then jerked her head, a little confused, her own lips twisting into a slightly puzzled grin as Kiara spoke.
“Okay,” she said, digging into the wrapping paper of the gift – and pulled out a handknit scarf. “Oh my gosh!” Callie let out a laugh now, hugging the scraf to her chest. She felt a little giddy, almost like she’d missed a step on the stairs or something. What were the chances of that? That had to mean something, right? Would Erato tell her it meant something?
“This is amazing,” Callie gushed. “I love it so much. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’re matching and it was totally unintentional. I love it. We need to take a selfie wearing these.” She giggled, swathing the scarf around her neck.
It was only then she noticed the letter tucked into the wrapping. She didn’t think much of it, though she did suddenly feel a little embarrassed because Kiara hadn’t noticed the picture and she still didn’t know if it was weird or not or what.
“Oh, d’you wanna do cards now too? I, uh, I have a picture in the wrapping there with stuff on the back.”
Kiara also wrapped her scarf around her neck, still giggling a little and grinning as wide as she’d ever grinned. She probably shouldn’t put the scarf on-- it was actually rather warm in the Lyons house (Ber was some kinda lizard person who was literally cold all the time) and the way Kiara was blushing... her whole chest felt like she’d gulped down soup too fast. The scarf was just going to make her hotter.
But she loved it. She loved it more than she loved any other gift. And she knew she would have felt that way if Callie presented her a rock she picked up outside on the way here, but--
But she loved Callie. She loved her. Which brought her thoughts finally circling back to the letter, right around the same time Callie mentioned cards.
Now she tugged the scarf a little. Stroked it, fingered it, the way kids clutched and fingered their blankets. She smiled tentatively.
“Oh, probably yeah. Um-- yeah, I put a letter in there... you can open it and read it...”
She saw the picture as she glanced down herself, partially hidden by tissue paper. She uncovered it now and her nervous smile twitched a little sadly.
“Oh, this is really nice too,” Kiara said. And it was, but a kind of nice that hurt. She picked it up and looked at Bambi, missing him at once. Looked at Callie, and loved her, and loved her.
She glanced up right as Callie was opening the envelope and Kiara bit her lip.
The letter said a lot of things, like how Kiara had learned a lot over the past year, the story of the scarf, and how Kiara was hoping that in giving Callie the scarf, she could maybe make something out of something she deeply regretted. It said that she was sorry, most of all, for hurting Callie.
But the most important part was this:
I really hope this scarf can also be the beginning of a new us. My feelings for you are still really romantic, and because I’m so bad at talking about them, I’m hoping this scarf can at least help me start the conversation. And if you’ll have me, I promise I’ll do all I can to be trustworthy and supportive, warm and loving, and to always hold you when you need someone to hold you.
And if not, that’s okay too--you’ll always be my best friend, and that love I have for you will exist no matter what. It’s yours, no questions asked, no demands, no restrictions or rules. And if you want time to think about it, just tell me. I’m finally ready, whenever you are.
Merry Christmas, Callie.
Make the Yuletide Gay || Calliara
calliope-hesiod:
Callie let out a peal of laughter when Kiara wolfed down the cookies and plopped on the couch next to her. Their knees knocked together slightly. Callie shifted so she wouldn’t sprawl out too much, still holding her present to Kiara close to her chest.
“I’ll be sure to pass that on to my momma,” said Callie. “She’ll be really happy to hear that! She always goes on about how my aunts are better cooks than her, but I think that’s just totally not true.” Callie giggled again, then looked at the gift in her arms.
It was a scarf Callie had knit – the first ever scarf Callie had knit, because Callie had started to pick up a lot of hobbies in her free time and knitting was the most recent of them. There were patches and big holes, but she’d sewed little colorful beads and stuff in those holes. It looked very DIY, but Callie had been determined to finish it before Christmas. It also wasn’t the only thing. Tucked inside the scarf was a little framed picture of Bambi, Kiara, and Callie a few days before prom.
A few days before everything had changed forever.
Callie wasn’t sure how that picture would go over. She thought it was a good picture. They all looked so happy. But that had also been the last time things weren’t complicated. It had a sort of sadness to it too. But she had found it when she got a new phone and moved her old pictures over, totally forgetting that they’d even taken it. It was a selfie from a weird angle, the three of them splayed on the floor of Simba’s living room, a pizza between them, all smiling, all excited, all thinking their future would be golden and together.
She handed Kiara the gift.
“Well, here’s my present! You can go ahead and open it first!”
Kiara was glad that Callie offered her her gift first. Because hidden in Kiara’s was a letter, and in that letter, was an expression of...well...everything. Kiara figured she couldn’t ever say what she wanted to say to Callie. She’d ramble, say it wrong, end up crying or making a joke, or just straight-up chickening out like she had been for months. But she had written the letter over the past week, going over it with Simba, trying to make sure it said exactly what she meant.
It would be really awkward if Kiara went first and then Callie turned her down which-- would be fine, but. Yeah, awkward. Kiara would get over it, but she’d definitely have to go have a solid cry and maybe mope for a few days before she was ready to see Callie again.
So for now the letter was tucked away. Kiara’s nerves stayed tucked too. She took a breath, flashed a smile-- “Okay, sure!”
And then because, okay, those nerves could never be entirely silent, she totally tore into the box way faster than she should have. When she lifted the lid, a bright laugh erupted from her lips.
“Wait, no way!” Kiara said as she pulled the scarf out--hand knitted. She laughed again.
Callie definitely had no idea why.
See-- Callie’s present-- was the same. Kiara had also knitted her a scarf. It actually hadn’t started as a Callie scarf. After the whole...fire thing, Kiara’s therapist said that she should pick up a hobby to help with her intrusive, destructive thoughts. So knitting had been the hobby, and whenever Kiara was lonely and missing Callie and Bambi--whenever she wanted to do something dangerous (sneak out, sneak Fey’s, run away...) she picked up her knitting. Over the past year and a half, she’d worked on this one scarf and only finished it properly a month-ish ago.
It was worse than Callie’s, which Kiara realized as she stretched the scarf out. “Oh my gosh, this is--its beautiful--” she kept laughing. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I--I love it, I just-- open yours!” She couldn’t do this, and she slid her present toward Callie, despite the letter and still needing to take the whole present in. “We should have totally just done it at the same time, oh my gosh!”
Make the Yuletide Gay || Calliara
calliope-hesiod:
“Merry Christmas!” said Callie, returning Kiara’s hug with ease. She beamed brightly, always happy to be in the Lyons home.
Ever since her conversation with Arista by the lake, Callie had been feeling a bit better about…well about most things. She wasn’t going to try to overanalyze every interaction with Kiara, she wasn’t going to mull over what-ifs and what could-bes.
At the same time, though, Callie had decided that if the time is right, she would say something. She’d just ask. She’d put it out there and see if they were going to be friends or if there was still something else there. Callie felt that something else. She didn’t have Erato’s powers, but she felt that something else gnaw in her and she realized now if she ignored it, it would only grow painful. She had to say something and either sate it or remove it entirely.
She just – well, she didn’t know when.
Maybe after the holidays, she decided, just in case everything changed (again). She didn’t want to ruin Kiara’s Christmas after all!
“I also brought cookies!” said Callie, holding out the saran-wrapped plate. “My mom helped me decorate them. She and Sweet are in town till January. She says she’s getting a soft spot for Swynlake’s white Christmases.”
Kiara had known about Sweet and Callie’s mom-- for one, Callie told her, and for another, it was basically turning into a tradition. Kiara was really grateful for that. As long as Callie’s mum came here, then Callie would stay and Kiara could have a Christmas with Callie, which was much better than a Christmas without Callie. Not that she didn’t love Simba and Berlioz. They were her big, gross, dumb brothers and they would always be her big, gross, dumb brothers. But with the wedding super close and...well, just in general... they belonged to each other the way that Kiara would never belong to either of them. No matter what Simba said or the fact she was technically, by all legal purposes, a Lyons too.
She just grew up alone, believing she had to make whatever was hers...hers. Simba and Ber were given to her.
But Callie? Her relationship with Callie, Kiara made.
And so it was special, no matter if Callie was as in love with Kiara as Kiara was with her. She’d always belong to Kiara, and Kiara would always belong to her, in that very specific Kiara-way that she didn’t even know how to explain. As long as Callie was here in Swynlake, Kiara could pretend that Callie felt the same way.
“Good! She should, they’re brilliant,” Kiara said as she took the plate. “So are her cookies. Ahhhh, these look amazing. I’m going to eat, like, three of these at once!”
She moved over to the living room and set the plate down, peeling off the wrap and grabbing one. She chomped it down in two massive bites, totally not at all nervous, haha, willing the cookie to be, like, a silent blessing from Callie’s mom to treat Callie well and love her right.
She plopped onto the couch as she chewed and then pulled a box into her lap. “Ta-da!” she said through cookie crumbs. She covered her mouth a second too late. “Shit, whoops!”
Make the Yuletide Gay || Calliara
@calliope-hesiod
At Christmastime, you tell the truth.
Someone in some cheesy, very offensive, heteronormative Christmas movie said that once, Kiara was pretty sure.
And okay! Taking advice from a very offensive heteronoromative Christmas movie was probably not the way to go about winning Callie’s heart. But over the last few months, Kiara had looked for the perfect way, something that would smooth over her past mistakes and give them both the kind of blank page that Callie liked. But nothing felt right. Well, Kiara wasn’t right. That was the problem. She wanted to earn Callie’s love, and she just-- wasn’t worthy. It didn’t matter what grand gesture Kiara cold conjure up, from parades and marching bands to hot air balloons and messages written in the sky. If Kiara was wrong-- if they were still wrong-- then it would be wrong.
She had to do what she put off, for fear of everything crumbling in her hands again...
Talk.
She was going to talk to Calle.
The perfect time to do it was the days before Christmas, when they were going to exchange gifts. Kiara was so nervous as she texted Callie and they found a time to meet up. She was so nervous as she wrapped her totally subpar gift. She was so nervous as she waited, staring at the door, for Callie to show up.
Eventually though, Callie knocked and Kiara bolted from the sofa. She nearly slipped on her own socks getting to the door.
She opened the door with a flourish and mustered all of her confidence. “Hi!” she said, cracking a massive smile and then holding out her arms for a hug. “Merry Christmas!”
HAPPY HOLIDAYS LAURYL! I’M YOUR SECRET SANTA!!
@kiara-lyons @trip-downtheriverstyx @andrina-the-amazingsupergenius @nala-calame @ber-bonfamille @the-little-prophet @heart-of-dunbroch @apollo-aegletus @among-the-lostboys @princess-su @ashleigh-inyourdreams @justkeepdancing-nemo @moon-yeongjun
I wanted to make something that takes a look back at your legacy here in BDRP. It’s amazing to go through and see all the characters you’ve breathed life into, and the stories you’ve created with many of us. In a way, it reminded me of save files in a video game, and I wish I could be more detailed with the information on the side and done all these amazing characters justice. Either way, as an admin, you do an amazing job here, and I can’t wait to see what new characters and stories you bring to life next in Swynlake!
Find My Way Back|| Bamara
bbambi-deerest:
It sounded like Kiara was telling him a story, or reminding him of what happened in a show during the first season, when now they were in the fourth, fifth season. Sometimes, the plot points got all fuzzy and mixed up and you could forget things. Important things.
Bambi listened, and he didn’t remember the fact that Berlioz was the first boy he’d kissed, or that Simba used to cut the crusts off his sandwiches after noticing Bambi would sit at the table long after everyone else was done and choke them down because he didn’t want to be rude. Or that Berlioz was the one who had attempted to teach him guitar and gave him his first real mixed CD. He didn’t remember that Simba used to drive him home from school, even on days when Kiara stayed behind for chorus, and sometimes, they’d go to Hatter’s or [Name Redacted] and hang out together while they waited for her.
He didn’t remember the date of their wedding, even though he’d been invited, even though–despite how much they made fun of them–Bambi and Kiara had also squealed together and laid on her bed, sighing about how lovely the wedding would be and how they wanted beautiful weddings like that one day, and, hey–maybe they could even get married on the same day! Double gay wedding!
He remembered only that his father had died and that was why he did not know that the wedding had been postponed.
There was a beat, a beat in which Bambi’s shoes scuffed the concrete and Kiara snorted. One beat, and then, before he knew what was happening–before he could stop himself (and why would he want to stop himself?)–he said:
“He’s not still a cat, is he? Imagine that’d bugger things.” and cracked just the tiniest smile.
Bambi made a joke.
See! Kiara’s plan was working!
It was a tiny joke, yes, and a tiny smile, yes-- but it was all Kiara needed. She knew Bambi was still in there-- her Bambi, not the ‘young prince’ and not the new ‘Great Prince.’ Just...Bambi. He might be older now and he might have more power and more responsibility but he was still the boy she’d found that one day. He still loved obscure music and watching bad movies, still crushed on people he couldn’t have (just like Kiara) and still, probably, had that dumb dinosaur costume for Halloween.
It sucked that Kiara had to fish for him like this. There was a part of her that was still a little resentful. After all, he abandoned Kiara, not the other way around. Justice said that he should be the one playing catch-up, asking Kiara to coffee, walking her home.
But when it came down to it, Kiara’s resentment was so small. And her love for her Bambi was so great and wide it could fill the entire sky. She wanted her friend back. She needed him.
So Kiara cackled, throwing her head back. She grinned bright and shoved Bambi softly with one of her shoulders. “No! Though y’know what, I bet Simba would still marry him anyway.” Kiara snickered. “D’aaaaaw, it would’ve been so cute! Imagine a little black kitten in a bowtie,” she cooed. “At least Ber would have gotten out of his first dance!”
Find My Way Back|| Bamara
bbambi-deerest:
Bambi saw the disappointment on Kiara’s features. She had never been hard to read, but especially not to Bambi. He knew all her little moods, quieter than many would expect them to be. None of that had changed. Kiara was exactly the same (except, well, was her hair different from the last time he’d properly seen her? He could barely remember that time, it felt like another life. Like it was stuck behind a wall. Bambi was surrounded by those walls.)
He wondered if he seemed as different to her as he felt. If it mattered. It felt like it mattered. It felt like it mattered so much, like he could never overcome it.
Part of him had expected–wanted? (the thought was like a kick to the stomach)–Kiara to say “oh, okay” and skip off. Back to her very human, very normal life. One that Bambi was so bitterly jealous of, he could feel it like an itch in the back of his throat that he could not reach to scratch. He did not know when that had happened. He had never been jealous before. Bambi knew Kiara had her problems, but at least she had her family and her friends. Family and friends that understood her and the things that happened to her.
If Bambi spoke of the brewing civil war between the trolls and bears, Kiara wouldn’t understand. If Bambi spoke of the worries of werewolves, of an uptick in poaching, in the refereeing of hibernation locations–Kiara wouldn’t understand. (This was a bitter, skewed way of looking at it, but it was how Bambi felt. No one, not even Ella could understand.)
“Alright,” he said, anyway, even if it was stupid. If only it would lead to a deepened divide between them. How could Kiara possibly understand?
He turned and began to roll up his headphones, shoving his hands in his pockets. He kicked a pebble across the ground.
“The–forest is fine,” he said eventually (and he thought, for a moment, he sounded like his father when they had first met, when his father had not known how to speak to him.) “How–is Simba? Berlioz?”
Kiara was aware that this kind of request was something that Bambi couldn’t say no to, and she felt, for a second, a flicker of guilt. She saw it on Bambi’s face-- because, sure, Bambi had never been as obvious as Kiara, but she’d still known him for three years. Three whole years. She knew when Bambi wanted to say no or was uncomfortable.
She couldn’t believe that he was uncomfortable with her.
But she couldn’t take it back. Maybe... if she pretended, after about a minute walking in the same direction and making small talk, she could suddenly remember something she desperately had to do,and then she’d free Bambi from his obligation to humor her with this illusion of friendship.
But Kiara didn’t want that. She was stubborn. She instead believed that-- instead of one minute of awkward small talk, it would take two minutes, and then they’d be in rhythm again. That’s all they needed. Two minutes, walking side-by-side, to remember how it felt to be best friends, to love each other no matter what, in the way that only people who met when they were 16, 17, could ever understand.
So she was selfish. And demanding. She swallowed her take-back, smiled, and began to walk.
“Oh you know-- Simba and Berlioz,” she said and then rolled her eyes good naturedly. She and Bambi used to make fun of them all the time. “Still gross, still super in love, still planning their wedding. Oh-- did you know they had to cancel? Or I guess, postpone. There was this wild drama with a wedding planner and Berlioz was turned into a cat.” She giggle-snorted and looked at Bambi, hoping he’d engage. Ask questions. Show some interest.
Find My Way Back|| Bamara
bbambi-deerest:
Bambi watched Kiara’s face contort and then, eventually, the smile win out and he felt his insides squirm. He felt like he was looking at her through a camera lens. Everything slightly distorted.
Part of him wanted to do exactly what she was doing, because he knew what this was. It was Kiara wanting things to go back to normal. She hated when things got messed up. It was the same reason she’d freaked out and dumped Callie. She just wanted things to be normal. And Bambi, y’know, he was really good at playing like nothing was wrong.
Or, he had been, once upon a time. He’d been so deep in it, he’d been able to lie about being homeless. It wasn’t because he was a good liar, but because he was so good at ignoring things that were wrong.
But–if he did that now, it would mean he would be ignoring that his dad was dead. It would mean he’d ignore that he hadn’t spoken to Kiara, really spoken to her, in near six months.
It felt like a lifetime.
“Oh, uh…” he said softly, rocking back on his heels. He glanced towards the forest. “I’m actually…heading back–” home, he was going to say, but the forest wasn’t exactly his home, was it? “–to the forest.” He cleared his throat. “I, uh, have a lot–to do.”
Oh.
The disappointment dropped through her, heavy as a rock. It was like trying to skip a stone across the surface of the lake and...absolutely failing. She and Bambi and Callie used to do that. They used to do a lot of stuff like that-- picnics and playing music and bonfires and camping. But of course that was before Bambi lived in the forest. And, um-- was in charge of the forest.
Her first instinct was to say something sassy, like, what could you possibly have to do? Like, did he have to count off the number of squirrels? Rake some leaves? It was fall, which meant that he should be less busy than the summer-- at least that’s how it had been for Bambi’s father.
But Kiara knew better than to voice any of that aloud. It came from instant jealousy. Jealousy of the forest.
That was pathetic, even Kiara knew that.
“Oh-- oh right, duh,” she said and scoffed playfully at herself, still pretending that this was All Fine! “Well I mean-- hey, I could like, walk with you? Just to the forest line or something?” she offered. “I feel like we haven’t really, like, talked, you know? You can tell me what’s up in the forest!”
Find My Way Back|| Bamara
bbambi-deerest:
Ella was due in less than a month–a fact which she seemed more or less calm about but which was freaking. Bambi. out. Not that he was showing it. Except maybe in more frequent visits, finding any excuse to stop by. From an article he’d found browsing on his phone (which, yes, he could just text to Ella, but–) to bringing Ella winter berries and cool rocks that he’d magpied while on his patrols through the forest.
It was also that…besides some of the fairies and Artemis, Ella was the only humanoid creature that Bambi talked to, and–he did miss it. He had not grown up as a Prince and he found it…isolating. His father had also found it isolating, but at least he’d been used to it. Not that…Bambi was ready to come out of the forest, exactly. But…he was still lonely.
When he stepped back onto the street after visiting with Ella for only a little while, it was with heavy feet that he turned towards Enchantra.
Those feet had just touched the pavement when he heard his name called. It was faint through the sound of his headphones, his foot hesitating on the sidewalk, but he just ducked his head, even as his heart tugged.
He should’ve known Kiara wouldn’t have let him go that easily. When she grabbed him, he stopped and automatically took one of his headphones out.
“Huh? Oh, uh–yes,” he said, not really thinking about it. His cheeks pinked. “Why? Is…something wrong?” He glanced around, mostly to avoid her gaze, but also as if he could see whatever the problem was. (He knew he couldn’t, the problem was much more complicated than that.)
Wait, what?
Kiara blinked and her face screwed up for a second in confusion. It sorta felt like reaching your hand into a pot of water and not realizing that pot of water was boiling. You expected lukewarm water, at best. You did not expect to get your hand burned, or in this case-- for one of your best friends to immediately jump to the conclusion that something was wrong.
Nothing was wrong! Did Kiara look like something was wrong? She was smiling, wasn’t she? She asked what was up, didn’t she? Nothing had to be wrong for her to want to talk to her best friend.
It totally put her on some weird shaky ground at once. She wanted to rewind and start this over. Approach with caution, bigger smile, maybe not shout at Bambi or...
She didn’t know. She couldn’t remember, honestly, what it was like to interact with him. She just knew it used to be so easy, and now it was not.
“Wrong? What, no, of-- of course not!” she effused. “I was just excited to see you! Like, in town! I was um, I was going to ask if you wanted to like, get coffee or something. We could go to [name redacted], I feel like I haven’t been there in ages.” Kiara tried to keep her upbeat attitude, grinning at her friend. If she just acted like nothing was wrong, like they were normal, it could get them back on track.
HALSEY
‘ELLE Australia’ / 2019 > PH. Kai Z Feng.
